Li Jiangyao looked into the distance and muttered, "That thing is called the nest car, and it is specially used to attack the city." At the same time, you can also condescend and observe the enemy's situation. During the siege, the defenders' defenses were clearly displayed in front of the nest car, the archers shot the defenders on the roof of the nest car, and the assault team used the stairs inside the nest car to reach the city. ”

Looking at Gema with a stunned face, Li Jiangyao continued: "To tell you the truth, even in the Shengtang army, such large-scale siege equipment is rare, and often only the main army will be deployed. Stanley is so full of tricks and surprises. ”

Gema looked at the sturdy nest carts that were four or five feet tall again, and couldn't help but swallow her saliva: "My good, if dozens of more are built and all pushed under the city wall, wouldn't it be easy to capture the city?" ”

Li Jiangyao smiled faintly: "I'm not worried about this problem." Although the outside of the nest car is covered with raw cowhide and coated with mud, it is not afraid of ordinary arrows and fire. However, due to its weight, the whole machine is extremely clumsy, and at the same time, it relies on human power to push the axle underneath, so it is also very slow, and it is easy to target for trebuchets. Even if it is not hit by a stone projectile, its own damage rate is often alarmingly high. ”

Gemma felt a little relieved when she heard this, and after taking a long breath, she asked, "Listening to the meaning of Dadu's words, do you have any other concerns?" ”

"yes, I thought of something else." Li Jiangyao stared at the Golden Wolf Army that was getting closer and closer: "The appearance of these nest cars makes me have to re-evaluate the person of Tanley. What you Turks are most accustomed to, and what they like the most, is to take advantage of the rapid mobility of cavalry to carry out long-range attacks and field battles. Siege is not something you are good at. ”

Gema nodded repeatedly: "You're right. In our Turkic Empire, especially in places like the Yakutia steppe, the scale and defense power of the cities cannot be compared with the cities of Shengtang, and even many places in the western frontier. We don't like to be passive and are more eager to take the initiative. It is precisely because of this that before attacking Shengtang, Ashina Jin specially taught the generals of various tribes a lot of siege warfare, and conducted many siege warfare exercises in Western Xinjiang. It's just that I've never seen such a big guy as Nest Car. ”

Li Jiangyao nodded, and continued along his train of thought: "Tanli's actions show that he has a higher understanding and ideas than other Turkic generals in terms of offensive and defensive battles against the city. Moreover, those nest cars must have been shipped here in pieces and assembled overnight yesterday. This means that Thanley has a large team of craftsmen under his command, and in addition to the nest car, there may soon be a city rush cart, a giant crossbow, and a ladder. ”

He paused slightly, then continued, "There's another serious problem. Zijin Pass is the gateway to the western part of Shengtang, but it is not inside the outside but not the inside, so the city wall facing the west is very strong and well-fortified, while the city wall facing the east has almost no decent system. I'm afraid the next battle will not be easy to fight. ”

Gema was a little nervous by what he said, and couldn't help but ask, "Daduhu, when will your army come to reinforce Zijin Pass?" ”

Li Jiangyao said lightly: "Soon, don't worry, soon." ”

However, he actually lied to Gemma.

The closest unit to Zijin Pass was Du Jian's Second Army, but now Du Jian did not lead his troops in his direction. Before Li Jiangyao set off, the order left for Du Jian was: gather the whole army, quickly capture Shengyuguan and its nearby areas, and deploy defenses.

In addition to the Second Army, Xu Youchang's First Army soon received a mobilization order. Previously, he had led his troops to conquer the city of Ulan, where the Governor's Mansion of Western Xinjiang was located, but because the countries of Western Xinjiang later returned to Shengtang, Ulan had lost its strategic significance, and the First Army was extremely tired from top to bottom because of continuous combat, so Li Jiangyao instructed Xu Youchang to lead the whole army to return to the fortress of Yarumqi Mountain and rest properly.

From Yarumqi Mountain to Zijin Pass, the road is very long, and no matter how fast Xu Youchang and the others move, it will take at least a month or so to arrive.

At the same time, the Fourth and Fifth Armies went to the Broken Leaf Kingdom, Gumo Kingdom, and Shache Kingdom to reconstruct the border defense line of the ghost desert in Western Xinjiang; The Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Armies were sent to various places to train and establish a governance system for the Zhenjiang Army to restore the previous situation of control in the Shengtang Dynasty.

Therefore, at present, the only thing that can reinforce Zijin Pass is the Thunder Third Army stationed in the base camp of Metasequoia City.

The Third Army has long been responsible for the combat readiness duty of the entire corps, and all members have always been on high alert, but even so, if they want to enter the Zijinguan battlefield, it is difficult to do it without more than ten days of effort.

This is tantamount to saying that Li Jiangyao and the others must rely on their existing strength to hold on for more than half a month.

Originally, Li Jiangyao thought that there were still 40,000 defenders in Zijin Pass, and even if they were useless, the 7,000 elite soldiers he brought would be enough to deal with it for a while, and it would be delayed until the reinforcements arrived. But after seeing Tanley's posture, he couldn't help but waver a little in this idea.

If the other party really recklessly attacked the city, although he was confident that he would not lose the Zijin Pass, he would inevitably have to pay a very big price.

Li Jiangyao didn't dare to hold on to it anymore, so he hurriedly called all the generals and officers in the city to start assigning combat missions one by one and deploying various defense plans against the weak eastern city wall of Zijin Pass.

Just when everyone was nervous and busy, the Golden Wolf Army on the opposite side had stopped their pace and steadied their position. Not long after, a general rode out of the formation, approached the edge of the bow and arrow range of Zijin Pass, and named Gema Khan to appear and speak.

Li Jiangyao recognized at a glance that the general was his "old friend", the second Turkic prince Tanli. He hurriedly dodged behind the crowd and told Gema to deal with them, reminding him not to let Tanley know he was here.

Gema Khan understood what Li Jiangyao meant, cleared his throat, pretended to be old and dizzy, and deliberately shouted: "Who? Who is looking for me? ”

"Oh, Uncle Gema, we haven't seen each other for a long time, you can't recognize your nephew, hahaha." Stanley sat on his horse, looked up at the city pass, and greeted Gema affectionately: "I'm Tamley." You've always been good, huh? How's the body? ”

Gema propped up the wall with both hands, leaned out and looked down, and also smiled: "Hey, who else should I be?" It turned out to be my good nephew, Thanley. It's been too the front lines of the Crusade, and you look like you've lost a lot of weight. Good boy, how is your father Khan? Remind him more, don't work so hard, if there is anything for you young people to bear more, don't burn your body. To tell you the truth, what worries me most in my heart is the body of your father Khan. ”

"Who's to say it isn't? Let the uncle worry about it. Tanli smiled and shouted at the top of his voice: "I always told my father Khan to let the old man take care of his health, but he didn't listen at all. When he has the opportunity, Uncle will have to help us juniors persuade him well. ”

Gema nodded again and again: "Mmmm, no problem, no problem, when I see Da Khan when I come back, I will definitely talk about him for you." ”

Tan Li said in a good time: "Uncle, let's not wait to turn back, or you can go with me to see Father Khan now, he misses you too." ”

"Good nephew, I also want to go to see the Great Khan immediately." Gema was embarrassed: "But you see, the Western Xinjiang side is really busy with military affairs, and I can't do without me for big and small things, and I can't get out of it for a moment." Otherwise, I would have gone a long time ago, and by the way, I could have seen what the Holy Tang Emperor was like. ”

Tanli smiled faintly and said, "Uncle Gema, dare you to be because the military affairs in Western Xinjiang are busy, so you openly disobeyed the Great Khan's order yesterday and didn't come to see me, the envoy?" ”

Gema hid in the city, naturally fearless, and deliberately shook her head and said, "Yes, no." Last night, the moon was dark and foggy, and it was difficult to see, uncle, and I really couldn't confirm the identity of the herald. However, the bandits have been very serious recently, so they dare not easily open the city gate and let people enter the customs. Later, I wondered why Tanley's nephew, who had always been humble and polite, and always polite to me, a bad old man, began to put on a stinky stand as soon as he became an envoy. Do you have to call me, an old bone, to the camp in the middle of the night? Can't he come to Zijin Pass in person to convey the Great Khan's edict? ”

Listening to the other party's ridicule, Tanley was unmoved, still smiling and saying, "Uncle has taught the right lesson!" Last night, my nephew was reckless, and I will compensate you here. However, the nephew does have a holy order, and he has to do the right thing first. Uncle, now that we have met, then I will pass on the edict directly, please work and obey the order. ”

Gema couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, and after hesitating for a moment, she continued to talk nonsense: "Good boy, you don't know, my uncle has been sick these days, and he can't be cured of it." Later, I asked a mage to show me, and he said that I had recently made a mistake with my fate, and I couldn't leave Zijin Pass for half a step, otherwise there would be a bloody disaster immediately. What do you think you can do? ”

"Oh, I see." Thanley looked calm: "That's easy, please open the gates, and I'll go in and deliver the message." ”

Gemar secretly said in her heart: I opened the city gate? Isn't that the same as letting your Golden Wolf Army charge at will? Are you stupid for me?

He stubbornly played tricks again: "Second prince, don't hide it, the mage also said that if you want to save your life, you can't let people in." ”

Hearing this, Tanley sneered: "Your illness is very interesting, and the mage who saw the doctor is also very interesting, and it is not possible to come out or go in, you say, what should I do?" ”

"I have a suggestion, can you see if it works?" Gema said.